Wire package and method of forming



June 10, 1958 R. H. PRINGLE WIRE PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING Filed Nov. 2, 1956 Mill .I1iiiilllllllillliliiillliiiillilllllllllllllll INVENTOR.

11. flrroRA/EY United States Patent WIRE PACKAGE AND METHOD OF FORMING Robert H. Prindle, Palmetto, Fla.

Application November z, 1956, Serial No. 620,108

3 Claims. (Cl. 206-59) The present invention relates to a package for coiled wire and the like and to a method of making such package.

An important object of the invention is to provide an improved package construction for coiled wire, such as the stainless steel wire commonly employed' for making fishing line leaders.

In the prior art, considerable difliculty has been encountered in the provision of a satisfactory package or receptacle for coiled resilient strand material, such as wire. Attempts to use sheet metal or paper receptacles for the coiled wire have not proven satisfactory, since generally the opening of these receptacles will allow the entire coil of wire to spring open or be released from the receptacle, and it is not possible to dispense from the receptacle a desired length of the coiled wire and to retain the remainder of the wire coil in the receptacle.

It is an object of the invention to overcome completely the above and other difiiculties encountered in the prior art packaging of coiled Wire and the like, by the provision of a novel and extremely simplified and compact wire coil package and a simplified method of producing the package.

A further object is to produce a package construction for coiled resilient strand material, which package will serve to protect the material from abrasion and the like while it is contained within the package, the package greatly facilitating the dispensing of a desired length of the strand material, while retaining the remainder of the coil securely in the wound condition, and without the possibility of the entire coil springing open or becoming unwieldy.

A further important object is to provide a wire coil package and method which is extremely economical, the package made, by the practice of the method, being readily adaptable to various sizes of coils and also adaptable to coils of material of various gages or thicknesses.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent during the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this application and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a completed wire c011 package made by the practice of the method.

Figure 2 is a side elevation of a coil spring util1zed for making the package and showing the same in an initial unstretched condition.

Figure 3 is a side elevational view, partly diagrammatic, illustrating a series of steps in the practice of the method.

Figure 4 is a further side elevational view similar to Figure 3 illustrating the formation of the desired number of coils of a known length like the single coil shown in Figure 3 and also showing the severing of the wire from the main supply roll and the stretching of the spring to its final position in the package.

In the drawings wherein for the purpose of illustration is shown a preferred embodiment of the invention, attention is directed first to Figures 2 to 4, wherein the numerice al 10 designates a relatively short tightly wound retractile helical coil spring which preferably has its coils contacting or substantially contacting, the spring 10 being initially straight and cylindrical as shown.

With reference to Figure 3, a supply roll or coil 11 of stainless steel wire or the like to be packaged is provided, and a free length of wire from the roll 11 is payed out and its forward end is passed axially through the coil spring 10, Figure 3, to form a single wire coil 12 of known length, such as one foot or the like. The free end portion of this coil 12 is now secured to the main strand of wire coming from the roll 11 by a small section 13 of adhesive tape, or the like. In this manner, the length of the coil 12 may be accurately measured, and the element 13 will secure or hold the coil in its formed condition with the spring 10 freely disposed thereon.

The spring 10 is now preferably shifted to the position shown in broken lines in Figure 3, adjacent the tape 13. The coil 12 is now turned clockwise in Figure 3 while the spring 10 is held stationary in the broken line position and the coil is given a desired number of complete re-' volutions relative to the spring 10, the wire continuing to feed from the supply roll 11. When this occurs, each time that the tape or element 13 passes through the spring 10, the operator knows that an additional length of the wire exactly equal to the known length of the first coil 12 is being formed into an additi0nal coil. turning or rotating of the first coil 12 is continued until a desired number of substantially identical coils 12 of equal length are produced, as shown in Figure 4. It is thus apparent that by this procedure the length of the coiled wire in the completed package may be accurately measured and controlled as desired, and the package may contain any preferred length of wire such as twenty-five feet, fifty feet or the like.

jWhen the desired length of wire has been accumulated in the coils 12', Figure 4, the strand of wire from the supply roll 11 is severed by suitable severing means 14, and this disconnects the coils 12' and the spring 10 carried thereby from the supply roll. A free end portion 15 of the wire coils 12 now preferably projects beyond the adjacent end of the spring 10, as shown.

With the spring preferably positioned upon the coils 12' as in Figure 4, the ends of the spring are now held and the spring is stretched circumferentially of the coils 12' a distance which may be equal to two-thirds or three-fourths of the full circumference of the coils 12'. This stretching of the spring 10 around the coils 12' is considerably beyond the elastic limit of the retractile spring, and the same will therefore have imparted to it a permanent set, and the spring will remain in the stretched position of Figures 1 and 4 after it is released. The free end portion 15 of the coiled wire preferably continues to project beyond one end of the now'stretched coil spring 10, and the latterforms a receptacle and protective container for the several coils 12'. The wire coil package illustrated in Figure l of the drawings is thus completed by the act of stretching the short tightly wound coil spring 10 of Figure 2 into the elongated helically coiled wire container or spring 10 of Figure l. The coils of the stretch spring 10 in Figure l are now quite separated or opened, and due to being stretched beyond its elastic limit, the element 10 now loses its retractile characteristics and remains in the stretched receptacle or package forming condition.

, When it is desired to utilize a desired length of the coiled wire from the package of Figure 1, it is merely necessary to hold the spring receptacle 10, Figure 1, and pull out the free end portion 15 to the desired length and cut off the wire, preferably leaving an additional free end portion 15 projecting from the spring receptacle or package. With this procedure, the coiled wire can This a never be uncoiledcompletely or spring loose from the I package while being dispensed, and this annoying. difiiculty in connection with conventional prior art packages is fully overcome.

Additionally; due to the flexibility of the spring, receptacle 10, the same can readily accommodate itself, when.

stretched, to wire coils 12' of different diameters or sizes, and byincreasing the original diameter of the spring 10, Figure 2, the same, when stretched, can accommodate or hold virtually any desired number of the coils 12'. It is thus seen that a highly simplified, inexpensive and highly versatile package for coiled wire or similar material is provided in accordance with the present package and method. The method is well adapted to be practiced substantially entirely by hand, or with the aid of simplified machinery, if preferred.

It is tobe understood that the form of the invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts, as well asphanges in the order or sequence of method steps, may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of the subjoined claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed l. A method of producing a wire package comprising applying a relatively tightly wound coil spring to a coil of the wire to be packaged and with the spring initially extending over a relatively small portion only of the circumferential length of the Wire coil, and then stretching the coil spring circumferentially of the wire coil an amount causing the coil spring to cover a major portion of the circumference of the wire coil, said stretching of the coil spring causing it to exceed its elastic limit and to remain substantially in the stretched condition.

2. A method of packaging Wire or the like comprising passing the free end of a strand of wire through a tightly wound coil spring and shaping said wire into a generally annular convolution of desired length, the coil spring being carried by said convolution, applying a visible securing element to said convolution and holding the. coil spring. relative to the convolution and revolving the convolution relative to the coil spring a desired number of times by observing the position of the visible securing element relative to the coil spring and thereby forming a coil of the wire having a desired number of convolutions and being of known length, said coil spring receiving all convolutions of said wire coil, and stretching the coil spring circumferentially of the wire coil an amount sufficient to exceed the elastic limit of the coil spring and to cause the same to permanently extend about and cover a major portion of the circumferential length of the Wire coil.

3. A method of packaging wire or the like comprising feeding the free end of a Wire from a supply of wire axially through a spirally wound coil spring and forming the wire into a generally annular convolution of measured length with the coil spring mounted thereon, applying a marker to said convolution and locating the marker relative to the coil spring, rotating said convolution with the marker through said coil spring a desired number of times to thereby produce a wire coil of desired length having a desired number of convolutions, severing the wire between said who coil and, supply, and then stretching the coil spring circumferentially of the wire coil for a major portion of the length of the latter and thereby exceeding the elastic limit of the coil spring so that it will remain in the stretched condition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 610,401 Hoffman Sept. 6, 1898 1,933,660 Dale Nov. 7, 1933 1,933,661 Dale Nov. 7, 1933 2,086,179 Angier July 6, 1937 FOREIGN PATENTS 188,948 Great Britain Nov. 23, 1922 243,940 Great Britain Dec. 10, 1925 

